{"slug": "this-film-festival-left-me-feeling-better-about-ai-moviemaking", "title": "This film festival left me feeling better about AI moviemaking", "summary": "Runway's fourth annual AI Film Festival in Los Angeles showcased 10 short films made entirely with AI video tools, leaving a Fast Company reporter feeling optimistic about the technology's creative potential. The festival highlighted rapid advances in AI video generation and filmmakers' growing skill in using it, despite ongoing controversy over AI's impact on Hollywood.", "body_md": "Hello again from *Fast Company* and welcome to *Plugged In*. A quick housekeeping note: We will be off next week. See you on July 10.\n\nLast week, I attended a film festival in Los Angeles. It felt, well, festive, with a step-and-repeat backdrop for photo ops, celebratory cocktails, and an enthusiastic full house for the evening’s program of 10 short movies.\n\nThe most notable thing about the event, however, was what it didn’t have: any films created using old-timey techniques such as pointing a camera at human actors. This was [Runway’s AI Festival](https://aif.runwayml.com/), the fourth-annual screening organized by the [maker of AI models and tools](https://www.fastcompany.com/91393242/runways-ai-can-edit-reality-hollywood-is-paying-attention) for generating synthetic video.\n\nBack in 2023, when Runway [held its first festival](https://www.fastcompany.com/90820457/a-new-film-festival-will-only-show-movies-made-using-ai), algorithms for video creation were in their infancy—more magic trick than storytelling medium. But as with many things about [AI](https://www.fastcompany.com/section/artificial-intelligence), progress is happening at a head-snapping pace. A [ Fast Company Next Big Things in Tech honoree](https://www.fastcompany.com/91411625/foundational-ai-next-big-things-in-tech-2025) in 2025, Runway is at the forefront of the industry’s effort to produce models that can simulate cinematic realism at greater length and with more consistency from shot to shot.\n\nJust as important, filmmakers have had three more years to get their heads around AI video’s powers and limitations. Those who submitted works for this year’s festival weren’t required to use Runway’s technologies and tools, but the company says “the vast majority” likely did.\n\nNot having been to any of Runway’s previous festivals, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this one. Left to their own devices, consumer AI products such as ChatGPT and Gemini churn out imagery whose primary distinguishing characteristic is its suffocating blandness. I was concerned the festival’s filmmakers might be unable to overcome the technology’s tendency to genericize everything, but willing to give them a chance.\n\nNow, it must be said that even guarded open-mindedness about AI-generated movies remains controversial. In April, Cannes—the most famous film festival of them all—[banned them from competition](https://studio.aifilms.ai/blog/cannes-2026-ai-ban-official-selection). There are reasonable people who believe the technology is [destroying Hollywood](https://variety.com/2023/digital/features/hollywood-ai-crisis-atificial-intelligence-eliminate-acting-jobs-1235697167/) and amounts to a [colossal act of intellectual property theft](https://jskfellows.stanford.edu/theft-is-not-fair-use-474e11f0d063). Slop videos on YouTube are a [real problem](https://www.fastcompany.com/91519733/youtube-urged-hundreds-experts-protect-kids-ai-slop-videos). Some people come away from the films in Runway’s festivals [despising AI more than ever](https://www.wired.com/story/cream-of-the-slop-an-ai-film-festival-screening-left-me-with-more-questions-than-answers/). (Regardless of what you think about AI, Emma Thorne’s [bravura takedown](https://youtu.be/mTV3b6uTup8?si=T-dvLCd3samkTxPZ) of last year’s edition is worth a watch.)\n\nStill, as I sat in the BroadStage theater at the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center, I tried to put all these legitimate issues aside for one night. Once the two panel discussions that began the night were over, I didn’t even want to think about technology. I just hoped to experience storytelling that succeeded on its own terms—and, since I was watching the work of multiple filmmakers, to be exposed to a variety of approaches rather than a sea of sameness.\n\nWith those criteria in the front of my mind, I was encouraged by the 2026 Runway show. Nothing in it struck me as slop, and no two films bore much resemblance to each other. I was entertained. I laughed out loud a few times. Occasionally, my heartstrings even found themselves being successfully tugged.\n\nThe festival’s top honor went to the story of an indomitable Parisian born with most unusual looks, Robert Gaudette’s * A Face Only a Mother Could Love. *It’s largely photorealistic in style, though the protagonist has the feel of a character from a forgotten children’s book. Rewatching it just now on YouTube, I was struck by the intimacy of the storytelling, which uses tight shots to establish a point of view in a way I don’t associate with AI imagery. (Then again, one line of dialogue—“The brioche smell like a Tuesday miracle!”—does sound like something ChatGPT would say.)\n\nMy own Best of Show might go to * Where Knights Fall, *by a filmmaker known as Mathery\n\nSpeaking of beautiful but boring: AI’s overarching promise to independent filmmakers may be its ability to amp up their work’s production values far beyond what they could achieve with older production techniques. That isn’t an unalloyed benefit. A few of the festival’s entries were overwhelmed by their own lavishness, including Dorian and Daniel’s * The Well*, a sort of\n\nAs with other applications of AI, [such as writing](https://www.fastcompany.com/91550021/ai-assisted-journalism), less is usually more. I preferred the stripped-down, cartoony *Postman*, starring a mail-delivering robot. (Its creator, Yuuuki, says it was made partially on an iPad.)\n\nMost of the festival’s films are available online, but I was glad I saw them on a big screen with an audience. Even if you assume those who showed up were predisposed to like AI-generated movies—I didn’t identify any haters in attendance—keeping a roomful of people engaged is vastly harder than capturing someone’s fleeting attention on YouTube. All 10 films managed to pull that off.\n\nThen again, the fact that these were shorts also helped. (Even the [longest one](https://youtu.be/qDsDUE5en0E?si=VRXl4SESAawqa9Kk) was only 11 minutes and 35 seconds.) AI is capable of outputting realistic humans whose looks and movements jump right over the [uncanny valley](https://www.fastcompany.com/1663530/did-the-uncanny-valley-kill-disneys-cgi-company), as seen in festival films such as *Between Before and After*, a story of ex-lovers who reconnect. But AI-generated performances remain pedestrian. Meryl Streep they are not, a fact that would be more glaringly obvious at feature length.\n\nAs I watched from the back row, I was reminded of the days, decades ago, when I was a regular at animation festivals. Computer-generated shorts were just beginning to pop up as part of the mix. At first, they didn’t aspire to do much more than demo snazzy effects such as a teakettle spinning in 3D space. It wasn’t until 1984 that a software company made a short film called * The Adventures of André & Wally B. *that was . . . okay, not a gem, but an actual work of entertainment.\n\nThat company was Pixar. Two years later it released * Luxo Jr.*, which\n\nAI filmmaking may have already passed the *André & Wally B.* stage. I don’t think it’s had its *Luxo Jr.* yet. But Runway’s festival left me more convinced that it might—and that it’s most likely to come from an individual or small team, not some corporate media giant. That alone is reason to give the medium more time before concluding how far it could go.\n\n*You’ve been reading* Plugged In*, *Fast Company*’s weekly tech newsletter from me, global technology editor Harry McCracken. If a friend or colleague forwarded this edition to you—or if you’re reading it on fastcompany.com—you can check out previous issues and sign up to get it yourself every Friday morning. I love hearing from you: Ping me at hmccracken@fastcompany.com with your feedback and ideas for future newsletters. I’m also on Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads, and you can *\n\n[Inside Slate’s radical design process to build a $24,950 EV truck you won’t be embarrassed to drive](https://www.fastcompany.com/91561144/slate-auto-launch-design-process-ev-truck)\n\nCall it the perfect car for the affordability era. To build it, the Bezos-backed startup led by veterans of Amazon, Chrysler, and Tesla had to rethink everything about how vehicles are designed, constructed, customized, and repaired—shattering auto industry conventions in the process. [Read More →](https://www.fastcompany.com/91561144/slate-auto-launch-design-process-ev-truck)\n\n[The real reason people hate AI data centers so much](https://www.fastcompany.com/91563531/real-reason-people-hate-ai-data-centers-so-much)\n\nIt’s not about the centers. It’s about AI itself. [Read More →](https://www.fastcompany.com/91563531/real-reason-people-hate-ai-data-centers-so-much)\n\n[How Meta designed its new eyewear to appeal to smart glasses skeptics](https://www.fastcompany.com/91563354/meta-new-smart-glasses-collection)\n\nIn the race to own your face real estate, Meta is doubling down on fashion with a new line of glasses. [Read More →](https://www.fastcompany.com/91563354/meta-new-smart-glasses-collection)\n\n[The innovation event of the year is back!](https://events.fastcompany.com/innovation-festival?ref=Newsletter)\n\nJoin thousands of business leaders, makers, and innovators at the 12th annual Fast Company Innovation Festival in New York City this September for four days of inspiring conversations, purposeful networking, and unforgettable celebrations. [Secure tickets now! →](https://events.fastcompany.com/innovation-festival?ref=Newsletter)\n\n[IBM debuts world’s first sub-1 nanometer chip technology](https://www.fastcompany.com/91564027/ibm-debuts-worlds-first-sub-1-nanometer-chip-technology)\n\nIBM’s newest chip architecture could unlock massive power savings for AI applications. [Read More →](https://www.fastcompany.com/91564027/ibm-debuts-worlds-first-sub-1-nanometer-chip-technology)\n\n[Zoox redesigned its robotaxis for more comfort and less stink](https://www.fastcompany.com/91564135/zoox-redesigned-robotaxis)\n\nThe new Zoox robotaxi design takes lessons from half a million rides. And from human nature. [Read More →](https://www.fastcompany.com/91564135/zoox-redesigned-robotaxis)\n\n[42 ways you should be using AI right now](https://www.fastcompany.com/91549052/42-ways-you-should-be-using-ai-right-now-agentic-vibe-code-openclaw-podcast-platform-video-newsletter-course-app)\n\nAgentic AI can make life—and work—easier. You know this. But are you doing anything about it? Time to get off the sidelines and into the game. [Read More →](https://www.fastcompany.com/91549052/42-ways-you-should-be-using-ai-right-now-agentic-vibe-code-openclaw-podcast-platform-video-newsletter-course-app)", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/this-film-festival-left-me-feeling-better-about-ai-moviemaking", "canonical_source": "https://www.fastcompany.com/91565229/runway-ai-film-festival", "published_at": "2026-06-26 10:00:00+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-26 10:41:49.034211+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["generative-ai", "ai-products", "ai-ethics", "ai-tools", "computer-vision"], "entities": ["Runway", "Fast Company", "ChatGPT", "Gemini", "Cannes", "BroadStage", "Santa Monica College", "Emma Thorne"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/this-film-festival-left-me-feeling-better-about-ai-moviemaking", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/this-film-festival-left-me-feeling-better-about-ai-moviemaking.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/this-film-festival-left-me-feeling-better-about-ai-moviemaking.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/this-film-festival-left-me-feeling-better-about-ai-moviemaking.jsonld"}}